Who

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Bugzir

How many software engineers does it take to screw up a beloved franchise? The
answer is “However many work at Obsidian Entertainment.”

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir is the second expansion pack continuing
the ongoing disaster that is NWN 2. As those of you who bought the original
game know, Neverwinter 2 took the original formula of the first game, and
added to it ridiculous system requirements to draw graphics that weren’t that
good, which you wouldn’t see anyway because the camera in the game was
completely unusable. On top of that, they heaped a passel of crashing and
hanging bugs, put the turd in the box, and shipped it to retailers all around
the world.

Storm of Zehir preserves everything bad about NWN 2, but then adds new
game modes and gameplay, proving once again the game publisher’s mantra:
“Millions for new features, but not a penny for bug fixes.”

It’s a shame, too, because the new features, if they were implemented in a
game that actually worked, would be compelling. First off, you’re given direct
control over an entire party of characters that you create, rather than just a
“main” character and NPC henchmen. More importantly, the game adds an
“overland” exploration mode, similar to what was seen in the console title
Gladius, where random encounters are spawned and can be sought out or
avoided. Generally speaking resting must happen in this overland mode rather
than in the actual “dungeons”, removing one of the “exploits” that made the
game, in the past, seem a bit stacked in the players’ favor. These additions
had the potential to be intriguing and thought-provoking. But set as it is in
the context of a game which, at any moment, is as likely to crash, or to
position the camera behind a brick wall, it just ends up being nothing more
than useless beauty.

There is no franchise that can’t be killed by incompetence. The tragedy of
Neverwinter Nights 2 is that the writing and imagination is still as good as
it ever was. The game’s failure is a failure of engineering. One that could
have – and should have – been avoided with just a little planning. I can’t, in
good conscience, recommend this to anyone without a superhuman tolerance for
frustration.